Dragons are carnivorous, oviparous, warm-blooded creatures. Like all of Pern's native large fauna, they have six limbs - four feet and two wings. Their blood is copper-based and green in color. They have multifaceted eyes that change color depending on the dragon's mood. Unlike the dragons of Terran legend, they have smooth, soft skin rather than scales; the texture of their skin is described as being reminiscent of suede with a spicy, sweet scent when clean. They are described as having forked tail ends with a defecation opening between the forks; however, most artistic renderings depict their tails as having spade-shaped tips. Their wings are not large enough to support their bodies in flight, much of their ability to fly depends on the subconscious use of telekinesis.

It's three months from mating to hatching. The eggs are laid six weeks after mating. Newly hatched dragons are the size of very large ponies, and reach their full size after eighteen months. Because young dragons grow so fast, their riders must regularly apply oil to their hides to prevent the skin from cracking or drying out.

Like their firelizard and firedragonet ancestors, dragons can breathe fire by chewing a phosphine-bearing rock called "firestone," which reacts with an acid in a special stomach-like organ. This forms a volatile gas that can be exhaled at will and ignites upon contact with air. The flame is used to burn Thread from the sky before it reaches the ground.

Despite their relatively low intelligence, fire-lizards communicate through a form of weak telepathy. They also imprint on the first individual who feeds them after they hatch, creating a telepathic bond with them; the Pernese call this phenomenon "Impression". In creating dragons, Kitti Ping intensified the creatures' telepathy and gave them a strong instinctive drive to Impress to a human. Upon hatching, each dragonet chooses one of the humans present and Impresses to that person; from that moment on, the pair are in a constant state of telepathic contact for as long as they both live. Dragons also use telepathy to communicate with each other and with fire-lizards. They are capable of speaking telepathically to humans besides their own riders, but most are disinclined to do so except under unusual circumstances.

Dragons and fire-lizards can also teleport. They do this by briefly entering a hyperspace dimension known as between. Humans experience between as an extremely cold, airless, black void. After spending no more than eight seconds in between, the dragon or fire-lizard can re-emerge anywhere on Pern, along with any passengers or cargo they carried. This ability evolved in fire-lizards as a defense against Thread; not only does it allow them to quickly escape from Threadfall, but the intense cold of between kills any Thread that has already burrowed into them. If a dragon attempts to teleport without a clear mental image of the place where they intend to reappear, they can simply fail to emerge from between and die.

Going between allows dragons to travel through time as well as space, as long as they have a clear picture of what a particular place looked like (or will look like) at the desired time. However, the practice is highly dangerous to both dragon and rider and is severely restricted. Existing in two places at once for extended periods of time, or in close proximity, causes severe weakness and psychological disturbance for humans. In addition, while teleporting through space always takes the same amount of time, when a dragon travels through time, the amount of time they spend in between increases depending on how long ago or how far in the future the destination is. Thus, traveling to remote times poses severe dangers from hypothermia and deprivation.

Contrary to popular concept, dragons do NOT defecate while between. If they did, it would eventually cause serious ecological problems for the planet, as large amounts of Pern's organic matter would be regularly disappearing into an alternate dimension. (It should be noted that The Skies of Pern references the use of dragon dung as a repellent against the large felines inhabiting the southern continent.)

Dragons are also capable of telekinesis, though this ability is unknown and used in an unconscious manner (to augment flight). It is speculated that the undersized wings were intentionally created in the dragons by Kitti Ping to reduce the surface area of a dragon that is exposed to possible Thread injury, and that the telekinisis was intended to make up for the loss of wingsail. It is said in many books that a dragon can carry whatever it thinks it can carry. This is likely an extension of the telekinesis, mentally "lifting" the extra load. This is the most likely explanation as to the great loads that dragons sometimes carry during emergencies.

Unlike their fire-lizard ancestors, dragons are fully sapient. They communicate fluently in human language (although only telepathically), and have personalities and opinions distinct from those of their riders. However, their intelligence does seem to be somewhat lower than that of the average human. In particular, their long-term memory is severely limited.

As a safeguard against the possible damage that could be caused by such powerful creatures, Ping engineered dragons to be profoundly psychologically dependent on their riders. Any dragonet that fails to Impress to a human shortly after hatching will die. If a dragon's rider dies, the dragon immediately suicides by going between without a destination. The only exception in the books is a queen dragon whose rider dies while the queen is gravid; the dragon waits just long enough to lay her eggs and see them hatch before disappearing between. (Humans who lose their dragons typically commit suicide as well. However, some do survive, although the experience leaves profound psychological trauma.)

Ping also designed the dragons to be fairly calm in temperament. They never fight one another, unless two queens come into estrus at the same time. They are also not dangerous to humans except shortly after hatching, when it is common for confused and frightened dragon hatchlings to maul or even kill humans hoping to Impress.

Dragons hatch knowing their own names, and announce their names to their new riders upon Impression. Their names always end in -th.

Other Communications

Dragons communicate "aloud" as well as telepathically with their riders. These methods include vocalizations, posturing, and eye color.

A dragon may make whatever sound it feels like making, whether it's a roar, bugle, rumble, chirr, trumpet, or warble, and for whatever reason. Note that dragons, being larger, aren't as likely as firelizards to make sounds like higher-pitched chirps, trills, or screeches. One of the high-pitched sounds that's common among both dragons and firelizards is a creel, often plaintive, and although dragons' creels are somewhat lower-pitched, they're still just as piercing. Generally speaking, the only sounds made during a flight are bugles (the female may bugle to announce her readiness and males may bugle back in answer) and croons.

There are only two sounds made by dragons and firelizards that have distinct meanings. When all dragons or firelizards hum, it means that eggs of their own kind are hatching. Dragons don't generally hum for firelizard eggs, but sometimes firelizards may choose to hum for dragon eggs as the higher life forms. When a dragon dies, all other dragons keen, an eery, unbroken wailing. It is their way of expressing grief and showing honor. Occasionally, dragons may keen for another creature's death if that creature has somehow impressed the dragons through deeds or honorableness.

Dragons can communicate through posturing in much the same way as canines do, with eyes replacing the expressive ears of the dogs. Head tilted back, lips withdrawn, and stiffness of posture often means aggression or anger. The tail may lash and wings may mantle as well. When surprised or startled, a dragon may sit back on its haunches and raise its head up in the air, ostensibly to get a better look at whatever surprised or startled it. Affection or flirtation may be portrayed by a delicate arching of the neck and light ruffling of wings, and some preening. Curiosity is often shown by pressing close to whatever the dragon is curious about; this can be intimidating for families of newly-hatched dragons when they first encounter the hatchling after the intial eat-sleep routine. There are many other attitudes that can be portrayed by posturing: begging, remorse, guilt, mischief, slyness, and more.

Eye color and rotating speed are extremely important to understanding a dragon. The facets appear to "rotate," essentially each facet sparkles a certain amount, but due to the spherical nature of the orbs, the sparkling appears to be circular in motion, giving the eyes the appearance of "whirling." The speed with which the eye color whirls usually denotes the intensity of the emotion behind the color; slower means less intense and is most frequent when the dragon is drowsing, while faster means more intense. The general meaning of any particular color is relatively fixed, but the specifics will usually only be known by the dragon's rider:

Blues/GreensThese are the hardest colors to read, but they generally reflect happiness, contentment, and tranquility

RedsThis is usually one of the easiest colors to understand, reflecting anger or annoyance and, most frequently, extreme hunger

YellowsThis is another difficult color to analyze, but usually denotes alarm or worry

OrangeThis color means only one thing: flightlust; this color only occurs in a rising female and chasing males within affected range

GrayThis is a VERY specific color that means only one thing: pain; this is usually representative of physical pain, but in combination with yellows may indicate emotional pain or that the rider is suffering some sort of pain

Dragon Colors

NOTE: The codes shown for dragon speech color are simply the default codes so that people don't have to try and remember something like #B8860B (the standard hex used for bronze dragons). If, however, you would like a custom code please message one of the admins with your dragon's name and the hex you wish to use for your dragon. We can then add it to the admin CP and you can simply replace the color with the name of your dragon (for example, Sora uses <span class="dranith"></span> instead of <span class="blue"></span> for A'dam's Dranith).

Code: <span class="gold"></span>Rider Code: <span class="goldrider"></span>Gender: FemaleSize: 34-38 metersImpress: Heterosexual females ONLYRise: 2-3 times per yearClutch: 10-16 eggsThreadfight: Queen's Wing, riders w/ flamethrowersGold dragons, also called queens, are the largest of the original dragons (34-38m in length and wingspan) and are fertile females. Gold dragons are one of the rarest dragons on Pern, at 1% of the population. They are dominant over all original colors; any bronze, brown, blue, or green dragon will invariably obey a queen's orders, even against the wishes of its own rider. Queens are incapable of digesting firestone and producing flame; however, they do fight Thread - they fly in a special wing, with their riders armed with specially designed flamethrowers.

Queen eggs are significantly larger than other dragon eggs, and bear a distinctive gilt coloration. Gold dragons Impress only to heterosexual women. A queen rises to mate two or three times per year. Clutch sizes vary from 10 to 16 eggs, with larger clutches produced during a Pass.

Bronze dragons are the largest males (32-36 meters in length and wingspan), although they are obviously smaller than the queens. They are almost always the ones to mate with golds, as the smaller colors generally lack the stamina to chase and catch the queen dragons. Due to the 3:1 bronze/gold ratio and the infrequency of gold mating flights they often mate with greens (the losers of a gold flight almost always seek a green for their needs), but their size often puts them at a disadvantage in chasing the agile smaller females. Bronzeriders are always heterosexual men.

Brown dragons are the next male dragon (30-34 meters in length and wingspan). They may occasionally mate with queens, although this is rare, and becomes even more rare as the dragons increase in size; it is virtually unheard-of. All brownriders are men, most are straight but bisexual or masculine homosexual brownriders are not rare.

Code: <span class="blue"></span>Rider Code: <span class="bluerider"></span>Gender: MaleSize: 28-32 metersImpress: Males ONLY (only one homosexual female allowed, and only with permission from Kes)Rise: After smaller females (may dare to chase a queen, but will probably not catch)Threadfight: Flame w/ firestone

Blue dragons are the smallest males (28-32 meters in length and wingspan). They are nearly as agile as greens, but unlike the greens, they often have enough stamina to last for an entire Threadfall. They mate only with greens, as they are simply too small to keep up with a massive queen over a long mating flight. Blueriders are almost always male though they can be of any sexual orientation; very rarely, a masculine female may Impress.

Green dragons are the smallest color (26-30 meters in length and wingspan). They are female, but unlike the queens, they are rendered infertile and can produce flame by chewing firestone. They are extremely valuable in Threadfall because of their agility, but they lack the stamina to last an entire Fall and generally fly in two or three shifts. Originally, greens Impressed to girls, however, after various natural disasters and plagues decimated Pern's population, women were needed to help repopulate the planet. Since going between during pregnancy can induce miscarriage and because removing pregnant riders from the Wings reduced the effectiveness of the Wings, it became impractical to present large numbers of women as candidates for Impression. Thus, green dragons began Impressing to effiminate homosexual boys; now, however, female greenriders have become much more common. They will rise to mate six to eight times per year.

Last edited by Kestrana on Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Evolution of Dragonkind

The original dragonkin species of Pern was the firedragonet. Kitty Ping recognized their potential as protectors against Thread after they were observed chewing firestone to protect their bondeds' homes and livestock.

The species was determined to be essentially immortal. It was hypothesized that this was so that their population could recover from being devastated by Thread (either directly through contact with the spores or indirectly by destroying their food sources). Left to their own devices, the firedragonets would live for centuries if not longer. However, it seemed that in bonding to a human being, the shock of the bond breaking when the human died resulted in the death of the firedragonet.

From Firedragonet to FirelizardFiredragonets are the ancestor of both firelizards and dragons. The first alterations to the dragonets, accomplished in the early colony years, involved treating a clutch of eggs with mentasynth, the Eridani compound designed to enhance fetuses' empathy. Their pincer claws were also genetically altered to a pentadactyl arrangement. When the eggs hatched in an environment that closely duplicated a nest in the wild, the new dragonets (later called firelizards) were capable of more direct communication and empathy with the humans who Impressed them. Over the next several generations, the improved firelizards grew to be larger adults than their wild dragonet counterparts did, probably a result of superior food and care. They also developed more pronounced head knobs. Firedragonets have a single pincer that closes on a two-fixed-claw "hand." The forearm have two arm bones that rotate to produce the ambidactyl movement, which is why the geneticists were able to alter the form of the claw. The genes were altered to produce four "fingers" and a "thumb."

One side-effect of the mentasynth enhancement of empathy was a decrease in the memory retention in the firelizards. While the firedragonets have a genetic memory and can remember incidents from centuries past, the firelizards have lost the ability to pass knowledge on genetically. They can learn and remember events in their lifetimes.

From Firelizard to DragonThe firelizard genome was altered further to create the dragon embryos. Kitti Ping, the lead geneticist, had given the firelizards their five-digit claws. She continued to manipulate their genes to shorten the forelegs into more modified "arms" and to give the dragons a stronger endoskeleton so the dragons would be comfortable upright. The back legs were modified with additional muscle.

The mentasynth was applied again to the dragon embryos to further enhance their empathy. The side effect is that dragons' memory recall is significantly reduced, although their empathic bond with their riders is unbelievably strong.

Effect of Mentasynth on Memory and Empathy

Firedragonet

Memory

Empathy

Firelizard

Memory

Empathy

Dragon

Memory

Empathy

Firedragonets vs. Firelizards

The DifferencesThere are a number of differences between firedragonets and firelizards. The most obvious, of course, is the physical differences, namely the blunter nose, the underdeveloped head knobs, and the three-toed pincer claws.

More subtle, however, are the mental and emotional differences. In applying mentasynth to firedragonet embryos (and later, to firelizard embryos), their mental resources had to be reallocated in order to strengthen the bond they would feel to their riders. This reduced their mental capacity for memory and image-based communications and increased their empathic communications.

Breeding & GeneticsThe genetic differences may or may not allow firelizards and firedragonets to interbreed. However, their physical traits breed true, so even if they interbreed, their offspring would be one or the other. That doesn't mean the entire clutch is one or the other, but the individual hatchling would be.

No official decision has been made on this site regarding interbreeding. We have been avoiding interbreeding just as a matter of firedragonets and firelizards being genetically different species.

If anyone would like to interbreed, let me know and we'll come up with a way to figure out how to determine the offspring.

As Pets: Which Do I Want?Because of their extreme mental differences and their digital differences, firedragonets and firelizards are suited for different uses.

Firedragonets have better memories. Because of this, they would make better companions for Harpers, Vintners, Miners, Smiths, and Carpenters. They would also work well with any of the Crafts that require a steady hand because of their less powerful emotions; this is especially important to Glassmiths. With their pincer-like claws, they would also make good companions for Fishers and Farmers.

Because of their more dextrous claws, firelizards would make better companions for Healers, Weavers, Tanners, Sailors, Cooks/Bakers, Computerers, Technicians, Printers, Papermakers, and Plastic-makers. They would also work well with Harpers, Vintners, and Carpenters. Because of their stronger empathic abilities, they also make good companions for Healers, Dragonhealers, Herders, and Dolphineers.

On the new planet, the firedragonets would be especially useful as scouts because of their improved memories and ability to visualize those memories long after experiencing them. On the flip side of the coin, the firedragonets are larger and have correspondingly improved stamina; and with their more dextrous front claws, they can more easily collect rock, soil, and plant samples to bring back. The firedragonets, with their locking pincers, are better able to capture animal specimens.

Folks who have read the (chronologically) later Pern books, most notably the Dragonsinger trilogy and the White Dragon, have expressed confusion over the differences between the two species. That is because the Pernese, prior to uncovering AIVAS and learning about the genetic manipulation, referred to both species as firelizards.

The firedragonets are specifically described in the White Dragon. Due to the mentasynth manipulation, the firelizards are not mentally capable of remembering the scenes of Landing that the firedragonets shared with Ruth.

Those who studyied the genetic history of the dragons in AIVAS' records would have learned the differences and would have started referring to them accordingly.